"Apologies for last night my behaviour was unconscionable. You know I'm not a frequent nor capable drunk. I have nothing but respect for Grandma. Best that I move out. I shall stay at the Vesteros' hotel with Stavros, until our flight leaves next Sat.u.r.day."

'Need help?' said a familiar male voice, today back to being gruff. My body stiffened as Niko's breath wafted against my neck. Now that my heart had officially severed links with Henrik, I found it increasingly difficult to fight my instincts. Every molecule of my body shouted that Niko and I fitted perfectly like two halves of the tastiest scone, filled with the creamiest, most satisfying... I shook myself and turned around.

'Grandma looks great this morning.' I said.

His shoulders sagged a little. 'Yes... but last night was a reminder of how vulnerable she still is.'

'Hmm, guess she'll need to pace herself a bit over the coming months.' I pa.s.sed him a plate. 'Last night, Niko ... on the beach... you were just about to say something before Stefan appeared.'

His cheeks flushed. 'No matter, now Pippa,' and with that he disappeared.

Weird but at least we were talking again. I couldn't face going home if I thought he actually hated me. Walking speedily, I followed him to see if I could find out what was up, but the taverna was full, people talking about drunk Henrik and creepy Stavros. I mingled, handing out scones. The plate emptied just as Georgios clapped for silence. I put it on a table and stood next to him, almost tripping over Apollo the cat who wasn't too old to scout for crumbs.

Georgios rubbed his head and began by asking everyone to share any bookings they'd taken for next week. With the help of several coffees and a sugar rush from the scones, the chat became more animated. Villagers put forward new ideas, whilst expressing worries about future costs. The man Stavros had talked to last night, with the ponytail, stood by the wall.

I jerked my head towards him. 'Do you recognise that man?' I asked Sophia.

She stared for a moment. 'No. Yes. Not sure...' She smiled. 'We may be a small village but it doesn't mean I know absolutely everyone. Sometimes, of course, friends or relatives of the locals come to stay. Why?'

I shrugged. 'No reason. He just seemed quite friendly with Stavros last night.'

'Perhaps he is keen to take the pay-off. Not every single villager is on our side.'

Mr Dellis piped up and I turned my attention back to the meeting.

'I've been thinking all night and have news that might help,' he said, during a brief moment of hush. 'Before I had to give up my job as a... a website designer, my last, um, project was with tax department in Kos Town. Um...'

Even though he was doing a great job in English, Mr Dellis asked if Niko or Georgios could translate for me and carried on in Greek. Impatiently I waited as he continued, the room oohing and aahing, then giving nods and smiles. The thin man at the back listened intently. Finally I poked Georgios in the ribs.

'What's it all about?' I said a bit too loudly and everyone chuckled.

'Mr Dellis he worked closely with a tax man who loved his job and is very, very strict.' Georgios smiled. 'He thinks if this tax man finds out about the illegal tax breaks that Stavros has offered, then the mayor will be in big trouble and the deal could be off.'

'Really? That is brilliant!' I shook Mr Dellis' hand and glanced around. Hmm, interesting. The thin man at the back was heading out of the front door.

'I'm sure that man with the ponytail was a spy,' I said to Niko over dinner that night, as twilight fell.

'Spies? Here?' He snorted. 'No, this is Taxos with Problems, not Russia with Love.'

We sat on the beach, sharing a picnic him, me and Leila. She threw some small chunks of bread at the gulls. Niko snapped at her to stop. Over the course of the day, his anger seemed to have switched from me to her. In fact they'd been sniping at each other for hours, from what I could see. The meeting had dragged on until mid-afternoon and the conclusion had been unanimous. As Grandma said, one day at a time... We would just try to make the next week as successful as possible and collect more signatures on the pet.i.tion.

After that Niko and Leila had discussed something out on the patio and he'd stormed off to go sponge-diving. I helped Georgios helped translate some descriptions of birds he needed for his tours. Then I went for a dip in the sea. The Dellis children were there, laughing but clinging tightly to their lilos in the shallows, with their mum. Although even a paddle didn't last long as the wind made the waves several feet high and I only swam for a short while.

'Perhaps that strange man has heard that franchises might be up for sale soon,' said Leila, brightly. 'He could be from another village. Did you see him, Niko?'

He didn't reply. Goodness. They must have had a big argument. It was just as well I'd suggested this picnic, to save everyone cooking. Grandma had wanted to come but Georgios and Sophia insisted she rest after fainting the night before. At least this way, the young couple avoided curious eyes apart from mine.

'I'm glad everyone believed I wasn't really on ThinkBig's side,' I said and finished my last mouthful of feta cheese and salad sandwich.

'Of course they believe you, Pippa,' said Leila and bit into an apricot. Niko pa.s.sed her a napkin without shifting his gaze from the tide. 'You are one of us there is history. Anyway, everyone knows if they speak badly of you, Niko would punch them in the eye.'

She laughed and I marvelled at her total lack of jealousy. Not that I'm bigging myself up and saying she had reason to be envious, but I'm not sure how I'd cope with a boyfriend being so close to a female friend.

I elbowed him. Niko had been quiet all day. 'What's up? The meeting went well and I like the sound of Mr Dellis' tax man friend.'

Niko looked first at me then Leila and sort of groaned before getting up and walking away. He headed left, towards the fig tree and the strip of beach which led to Tyrionitsa.

'Leila?' I raised my eyebrows. She wrapped up the apricot stone in her napkin and gave a sigh.

'Follow him, Pippa. I got to go now Mama and Papa are expecting me. And everyone needs an early night after the excitement of the barbecue. I'll see you tomorrow, yes?'

'But...' Huh? What was happening? First Niko was hardly talking to me, now he reluctantly does. And I was the object of his glares and bad temper, but now Leila is. 'You should go after him. I'll pack up, don't worry.'

'Sorry no, not me. I must leave now, otherwise... I am afraid I might say too much.' She stood up and eyes all shiny, gave me a wry smile. 'I like you, Pippa. Sorry things couldn't be different.'

Huh, again? Was I going mad? It was as if the two of them spoke in code.

'What do you mean?'

'Secrets... they are no good.'

Well, seeing as she brought it up...'Tell me Leila...' I stood up, feeling I had nothing to lose in the suddenly very weird parallel universe. 'Is it my imagination or are you planning to go abroad?'

She stepped back on the sand and swallowed hard.

'I saw you in Kos Town, coming out of an international recruitment agency and Postie said you'd been sent a pa.s.sport. '

'He should mind his own business,' she murmured.

'Then when we handed out the tourist leaflets, you eyed up new luggage.'

'Pippa... no... I mean...'

'I like you Leila, and find it hard to believe you would deceive Niko and his family, but...'

She shook her head, the thick black hair buffeted by the wind, and hurried away, lugging the picnic basket and muttering something about not lying any more.

For a few minutes I stood gobsmacked, simply staring out at the sea until a distant figure caught my attention. It was Niko, skimming stones. Sandals filling with grains of sand, I headed over, the outline of him getting closer as darkness continued to fall. Finally I reached him and stood still for a moment, listening to the cicadas and lapping tide.

'What's the point of doing that? You can hardly see the water and the strong wind makes it difficult.' I eventually said.

'Makes me feel better.' Niko didn't turn to face me, so I took his arm, prised a pebble out of his hand and lobbed it into the water.

'What's going on with you and Leila? Neither of you are making sense today. I can tell you've had an argument. Is it about me? She said to talk to you.'

'Mind your own business,' he snapped and walked towards the waves. 'Please, Pippa, just leave me alone go and see Henrik at your villa. He's your boyfriend, after all.'

I sat on the sand for a while, waiting for him to calm down. Laying back on my elbows, I surveyed the beach and coastline. Taxos truly was beautiful in its simplicity, and reminded me of team-building adventure trips I'd taken with work, to the Peaks, Lakes and Scotland. It took a lot to beat the sky at night, away from the intrusive city glow. Its inky blackness was instead broken up by clear star constellations and an occasional aeroplane. The purity of its darkness made me think of the unpolluted, azure Aegean sea.

'He's not there. Henrik. At the villa,' I said when Niko finally returned and sat next to me.

He fiddled with his leather bracelet. 'Why...? Did he have to suddenly return to England? Or has our fight against his company torn you apart and you've split up?' He looked me straight in the eye.

I pursed my lips together, fighting every urge that told me to shout yes and pull his head towards me, to press my lips against that tender, warm mouth. d.a.m.n my inclination to try and do the decent thing.

'No... but, um, with everything going on it's just easier for him to stay with Stavros at the Vesteros' hotel.'

Niko's mocha eyes drooped at the corners. 'Then go see him there. You on holiday should be spending it with the one you love... Drinking c.o.c.ktails... taking romantic strolls... discussing intellectual stuff.'

I bit my lip hard, almost drawing blood, millimetres close to screaming into the air that all those horrible things I said about him, I made up. Niko was like a walking encyclopaedia when it came to fishing, sponges and nature. If I died of anything in his company, it wouldn't be boredom but an excess of love. And as our bodies leant against each other, I hardly dared turn my head. If my face met his at this proximity, I couldn't trust my actions.

'Shh what's that?' Niko suddenly said. He concentrated for a moment. His face went pale, before he leapt up and held out his hand.

Instinct told me to grab his fingers and let him pull me up. My stomach knotted as I saw his eyes widen. Without even knowing why, I ran alongside him, our fingers intertwined.

'What is that person shouting?' I gasped, struggling to keep up.

Niko's pace quickened. 'Fire! Someone shout "Fire!"'

Chapter Nineteen.

'Over there!' I said and pointed towards the end of the village, past The Fish House restaurant. Thick smoke salsa-danced with the wind that meant the woods were on fire; that anyone coming from the villas, along the dusty road, wouldn't be able to cut through the trees, into Taxos.

'Let me check on my parents and Grandma,' said Niko and he dashed into the taverna. Irrational yes, but I understood far or near, a fire was a fearsome thing. People stood in the street in pyjamas, some shaking their heads, others shouting at neighbours to get up.

Niko soon reappeared. 'It's okay. Everyone is all right. Leila, she went straight home?'

I nodded. Fortunately she lived in a house near the sh.o.r.e, well away from the wooded area at the entrance to the village.

Grandma came into view, hair uncombed, in a rumpled skirt and untucked blouse.

'Go back inside,' said Niko. 'Everything is all right.'

'Don't baby me, boy,' she said. 'I've seen fires like this before you were born. Now do as I say.... Wake up everyone in the village and get them onto the beach. Georgios is ringing the fire station, in case no one else has.' Grandma walked into the street and lifted her head, squinting into the distance. 'If that fire takes hold the village will be cut off. If this wind helps it spread...' she sucked in her lips, '...the fire crew will not be able to get through.'

'Henrik... He's staying at the Vesteros' hotel, right by the woods do you think he'll be all right?' I bit my lip.

Grandma and Niko looked at each other. 'He should be...' she said. 'They will have smelt it first although its restaurant is made from log and also has a wooded outside dining area... that could feed the flames.'

Grandma sniffed the air. I sniffed too a pungent smoky cedar wood smell wafted our way. 'It is strange...' said Grandma, '... we haven't had rain for a long time, so yes the woods will be dry, but...' She shrugged. 'Forest fires starting at night is unusual.'

We all looked at each other. Surely no one would do this on purpose?

'Someone must have been careless with a cigarette,' I said.

Grandma nodded. 'We need to control the spread.'

'And I know just how,' said Georgios, coming outside. 'I've rung Mr Dellis his fireman brother still hasn't picked up the drip torches used to burn down some of his land to build those animal pens. He also left the protective clothes... I think we should try to burn a strip of land, closest to the village, to stop the fire heading down here.'

'But that's dangerous!' said Pandora, who'd just appeared, in her dressing gown, her usually slick short hair sticking out in all directions.

We all fell silent for a moment. No one knew more than Pandora that loved ones could be lost, fighting fire. 'We're no experts and embers can fly through the air.'

'But it's a chance better than doing nothing... A bit like our fight against ThinkBig,' said an out-of-breath Demetrios who'd just turned up, minus his signature cravat. It was as if Taxos Taverna was now the village hub to deal with any emergency.

'Let's start by getting everyone to the beach,' said Grandma. 'We need the fittest to run and knock on the doors of those closest to the woods.'

'I'll head off to Mr Dellis' house,' said Georgios. 'Find out how specialised this equipment is. He'll know if it's too dangerous for us civilians to use.'

'I need to check on Leila,' said Niko and turned to Demetrios. 'I'll meet you at the Vesteros' place, yes?'

'I'll go with you,' I said to Demetrios. We may not have been dating any more, but I still cared about Henrik and needed to know he was all right. A couple of young men in their twenties, the Angelis brothers, ran with me and the potter. Chests heaving, about ten minutes later, we reached the edge of the woods. The Vesteros' hotel was to the right as you entered the village, just in front of a row of houses which led down the road to the pottery shop and church.

Wow. We reached the building to see a path of thick smoke run from the woods to its front door. I couldn't see flames but heard crackling and the air felt scorching hot, as if someone had just thrown water on the rocks in a sauna. With a cough I took several steps back.

'Henrik!' I shouted and squinting, saw low flames lick the doorway. A random gust of wind thinned the smoke for a second and I surveyed crumbling remains of the outdoor cedar wood restaurant. 'Henrik! Are you in there?' Eyes wide, I stared at Demetrios. With handkerchiefs over their mouths, like two cowboys, the Angelis brothers ran around the back of the hotel. A noise from behind made me turn. Who was that guy creeping away in a black balaclava? He was very thin, had ash all over his clothes and... I swallowed and strode after him. Sticking out the back of the woollen hat was a ponytail.

'It was you!' I stuttered and pointed a finger. 'You did this for Stavros but why?'

He started running away and I was just about to follow when one of the Angelis brothers shouted. I span around. He beckoned for us to follow him to the back of the hotel. Holding our breath past the thickest of the smoke, Demetrios and I sprinted, turned the corner of the building and... oh my. Several hotel guests knelt on the ground coughing, as more smoke billowed out of the hotel's back door, like the dirty exhaust of a giant car. I crouched down and rubbed the back of a teenage girl, as she was sick. Mrs Vesteros pa.s.sed me tissues and a bottle of water. The girl nodded her thanks and wiped her mouth, before heading over to a woman no doubt her mum who'd managed to stand up and stop coughing.

'Your boyfriend... he's a hero after all,' said Mrs Vesteros, eyes streaming, nose red, hair flapping violently in the wind. 'He rescued these guests and has just gone in again. We were all asleep flames spread from outside to the indoor restaurant.' Her face crumpled. 'The smoke alarm downstairs no work. I've been meaning to change it for days, but what with the plans to reinvent the village, my thoughts were elsewhere.'

'Where is Henrik, now?' I said, stomach lurching. 'And your husband?'

'They've gone in to look for Stavros. He must be heavy sleeper and hasn't heard anything. I told them not to...' A sob escaped her lips. 'Ceiling beams have already fallen it is too dangerous.'

Out of breath, Niko appeared at my side.

'Leila's fine. People are evacuating the village and congregating on the beach. Mr Dellis and Papa are driving the drip torches to the edge of the woodland they will try to burn ground and contain the fire, so'

He stopped talking and we listened for a second. Thank G.o.d the siren of a fire engine. They must have made it through the woods. Suddenly a head appeared out of a top window. Stavros?

'Where is Henrik!' I hollered.

'I don't know,' he said. 'Help my room is full of smoke.'

'This is your fault!' I screamed.

Everyone looked at me and I took a deep breath. Now was not the time to confront Stavros. We had to get the mayor out before anything else.

'No worry, Stavros,' shouted up Niko. 'We'll help you down.' He added on something in Greek, probably more comforting words.